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9.19.2012

Pizza And More At Nebo

I bought a Living Social deal for Nebo a long time ago because I had heard the pizza was good and I was interested in checking out this sister-owned North End establishment. Last night, Jeff and I finally had the opportunity to meet friends there for dinner.

We both headed over after work, met at North Station, and walked the very short distance from there to the restaurant. Our friends hadn't arrived yet, so we sat at the bar, where I enjoyed a glass of Gavi and scoped out the space, which features chocolate-colored bar stools and brick walls, making for a cozy environment.

Once our friends arrived, we were seated in the dining area. (We were asked if wanted the gluten-free menu or the regular menu, and while we all chose the gluten-laden menu, I think it's great that they offer both.) We actually had two servers that night, one who was being trained and one who was doing the training, so the service was very attentive.

We started by sharing the rucola, a salad of baby arugula, shaved Parmesan, and lemon vinaigrette. There are some other salads on the menu, but we wanted a nice, light one that would allow us to still eat tons of pizza, and this one fit the bill.

We also snacked on warm country olives with orange zest, rosemary, and spices.

And our friends, who had been to Nebo before, suggested the grilled baby lamb skewers. I was so surprised by these when they came out. The lamb had been nicely diced and threaded onto skewers and was heavily flavored with rosemary.

The pizzas at Nebo are on the small side, slightly larger than an individual pie, so we got four of them.

The venezia is a baby clam pizza with pancetta, garlic, chili flakes, parsley, and mozzarella. I was surprised when our waitress brought over a bowl for shells before the pizza arrived. I'd never had a clam pizza with clams still in the shells. I wonder if that's what kept them so incredibly tender. If it is, it made the work of de-shelling them worth it. I was definitely a fan of this salty, garlicky pie.

The prosciutto e fichi is a sweet and salty pizza with lots of thinly shaved prosciutto and a soft fig spread. There's some pungent gorgonzola and rosemary to round out the flavors. And some mozzarella for a little gooey, cheesiness. It's the type of pizza my friend and I would make for a girls' night in.

In the mood for artichokes and some red sauce, I pushed for the stagione, also known as a four seasons pizza. Typically, the toppings are placed in quadrants (one for each season), but our waitress asked whether we wanted them that way or all over the pizza, and we went for combining them. I recommend this... you can get some of each toping in almost every bite that way. In addition to the artichokes, this traditional-red-sauce-topped pizza was covered with prosciutto cotto (Italian ham), mushrooms, olives, and mozzarella. It balanced out our two white pizzas.

Jeff, who tends to go for more simple toppings on his pizza, tried the Michael diavolo, which has pepperoni, bacon, traditional red sauce, and mozzarella. I didn't try any of his, but he enjoyed it. And I know it had to be good since it had the same flavorful red sauce as the stagione.

At one point during the evening, our waitress brought a heaping pile of zeppole to a nearby table, and Jeff immediately flagged her down to find out what she had delivered. At that moment I knew we had to get some for dessert. And that we did. Soon enough a plate piled high with sugar-dusted fried dough arrived at our table too. The pieces ranged from crispy to chewy, and I found myself stealing the chewier ones.

The four of us had a nice evening at Nebo, catching up with each other. I thought the restaurant got a little loud at times, but other than that, it was great. We enjoyed the food, and I'm kind of wishing we hadn't given our friends all the leftovers now.